Above is the cover of my e-book, Sulug in Sabah, released through e-sentral.com. In case you want to secure a copy, please click this link. You may also message the author in case you want a hard copy. Thank you for the support.

Synopsis

​The Suluks have always been somewhat misunderstood as a people. To the outside world whose insights are based mostly on information gathered from occasional coverage in newspapers and other media, they are a barbaric race, prone to committing acts of brutality and senseless aggression.

In Sabah, even though they are legally natives, the Suluks are still seen today as sort of enemies of the society, stereotyped as potential troublemakers. For these reasons, they are regarded as “outsiders” by many Sabahans and Malaysians.

In this book we get to closely examine the truth about the Suluks and how they really are in real day-to-day life. Through the eyes of ordinary Suluks, we get a glimpse of the everyday struggles of a people. We uncover their dreams and aspirations.

We also get to look closely at the roles the Suluks played politically, historically, and economically in the development of Sabah. We also get to understand what roles they play in shaping the future of Sabahan society.

By examining the Suluks more objectively, we can develop a platform for harmonious co-existence among Malaysians, and ensure the active participation of the Suluks in the local communities. I believe this book is rather timely and particularly relevant.

At the moment, Sabah is beset with issues concerning undocumented immigrants, many of them Suluks and of Suluk origin. Through this book we get to see another side of this often neglected and misunderstood ethnic group, looking at them as artisans, politicians, poets, musicians and business people.We get to familiarise ourselves with their food, religious belief, culture, and traditions. We get to see the kind of social activities that bind them together. The aim is for the readers to acquire a better understanding of the Suluks in order to strengthen the foundations of a multi-ethnic country that Malaysia is.

There are Suluk personalities whose immense contributions in history have yet to be given due recognition. This book sheds some light into their achievements, not with the intent of glorifying them as individuals, but rather to emphasize what Suluks are capable of and their future potential social contribution to Sabah and to Malaysia.

The Suluks’ sense of connection with their past has always been strong. Although spread out geographically around neighbouring islands such as the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, they are connected by the sea.

The Suluks in Sabah have ties to their brethren in the Sulu archipelago, an area now politically administered by the Republic of the Philippines. Despite having different citizenships, they are inevitably one ethnic group.

An Islamic liberation war in the 1970s had a lot of impact on the lives of Suluks in the Philippines. The suffering thereafter led to their influx to Sabah to seek better lives, away from all vestiges of war. Many of these Suluks are now in Malaysia as undocumented immigrants.

There had never been any formal education offered to them in the past. Recently however, the Malaysian government initiated programs that would allow them to seek alternative education and thus a better life prospect for the future.

I sincerely hope this book will encourage more Malaysians to be more objective and understanding. After all, we are one in this vast archipelago; one regardless of beliefs, citizenship, and nationality. Our future is shared, determined by the contributions of every individual in this country — Suluks included.

Finally, I hope this book will serve as a compass, a guide for the future. By examining the history, the culture, way of life and the connections of Suluks in Sabah to the Suluks of the Sulu archipelago, we can surely pave the way for a brighter future that is freer, more progressive and unhampered by political issues that seem to threaten us continually in the present.

It was fun listening to Pak Gatot, our tour guide, telling us about the Kota or City of Malang in Indonesia. According to him, Malang is East Java’s second largest city. It has a history dating back to the Singhasari, a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist kingdom that flourished between 1222 and 1292. I smiled to myself, feeling like a student being lectured by his history professor. Informative and accommodating, Pak Gatot has got to be one of the best guides I’ve ever had in this media trip.

​Malang is known for its rather cold climate, hence its nickname “Paris of East Java,”. Thirty minutes from the city lies a small mountainous town called Batu, which has impressive natural green scenery. It is situated 700 - 1100 meters above sea level, which makes it the best place for beautiful orchids, rare flowers, and sweet-tasting organic apples.

“Batu’s government has built a thriving agro-tourism industry over the years,” explained Pak Gatot as we were heading to the Kusuma Agrowisata, a hotel that doubles as a resort, park, and convention center. “In fact, Batu is also home to rare fauna including endemic species of birds, spiders, monkeys, and others.”

We reached Kusumu Agrowisata in no time. I glanced around the luxurious place, feeling awed at the beauty of its exterior and interior. The place has everything you’d want for a relaxing vacation—cottages, restaurants, cafes, tennis court, a picnic area, and etc. All amid lush, green scenery that seems to be the central theme everywhere in Batu.

We were lucky to have been able to spend the night there. I read that Kusumu Agrowisata is one of the pioneers of Indonesia’s Agro Tourism industry, having been established as early as the 1990s.

As I wandered around the hotel, I couldn’t help but marvel at the wonderful design work put into action. A blend of nature and modernity, you’d get the comfort of being in an urban hotel plus the peace and serenity of being in the mountains.

After settling in our rooms, we went around touring the orchard area, picking apples, oranges, guavas, dragon fruits, strawberries and other hydroponic vegetables or vegetables that are organic and free from pesticides.

After seeing the fauna in Agrowisata, we were brought to the Wildlife Museum or Museum Satwa. Standing like the Greek Parthenon in front of the Mount Panderman, the Wildlife Museum is a recreational and educational museum that has now become one of the new icons of tourism in East Java.

The Wildlife Museum is part of Jawa Timur Park 2, a large park area that consists of children rides, a zoo, a safari farm, and others. It holds thousands of preserved endangered animals and ancient fossils imported from various countries across the world including the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Arctic and Antarctic.

The museum even displays replicas of ancient animals such as the Apatosaurus, Tyrannosaurus-Rex, Stegosaurus, Mammoth, and others. We were assured that the museum strictly follows the objectives of the Ex-Situ Wildlife Conservation, which is never to acquire dead animals by hunting.

​Throughout the tour, I was curious about the animals and how they successfully started the museum. How much of an effort it would have taken to gather all the specimens from different locations and bring them to the highlands.

I guess I still have more to explore. I would really love to visit again someday. I really have to, otherwise, I’d miss the opportunity to know more about the animals. The Wildlife Museum was one of the best museums I have visited so far in one the most populated countries, Indonesia.

It was in high school when folklores and folktales piqued my interest. I was young and had no knowledge whatsoever about how important they were in the everyday lives of my people. There in the jungle of Sulu, the cradle of the Sulu Sultanate which reigned in our majestic past, I had the chance of listening to the chants of the manglulugu’ or chanter. I was not interested with the somewhat indistinguishable words but the melancholic melody.

I’d feel at peace listening to the melodious voices of traditional singers as every beat would hit my heart. Later I learned that the singing is called lugu’. I became interested to know more about it so I talked to my grandfather, then to the elders I came across with. I continued bugging my uncles, aunts and even the friendly neighbourhood chap.

I knew about folklore or folk tale in my English literature class, but I never knew what they were called in Bahasa Sug or Tausug language. Since then I have wanted to look for more. Lugu’ enthralled me to a point that I began looking for other classical forms of art, something similar to Lugu but easier to understand and much more lively. I spent my vacation in the jungle of Pasil one summer. There an old man told me about Kissa, a traditional narrative. Much to my surprise, Kissa is an equivalent of folkloric narrative.

My consultation with elders on the culture and tradition of the people of Sulu archipelago led me to believe that we didn’t develop a culture of writing down these narratives. What we had was just basically oral tradition. The narratives were passed down to reciters or chanters from one generation to another.

While I was not an inheritor of the skills of chanting nor did one single member of my family engage in this art, my mom is good in singing lullabies or langan and my dad is good in reciting poems or tarasul.Well, perhaps I had inherited a bit of both and I realized that I could learn to write. I wanted to write, and the least I could do was to record those chants. It never materialized. I lacked resources. I didn’t even own a tape recorder then.​Today young Sulus lack the interest in continuing these oral traditions and a way to preserve some of these performances is to document them. Folklore or Kissa is the Sulus’ eternal culture thriving in their consciousness as well as sub consciousness, either directly or not. They are expressions of ideas and values. The stories may be constantly changing because of the way they are retold or passed from ear to ear.​Although the stories keep past events alive as they describe the lives of the people then, keeping the old names of certain places and events that happen in the mundane or historical ones are a step towards preserving them. But most importantly, we need to write.

I feel blessed that someone like brother Raja Lakandula Sevilla Aming is doing such an endeavour to preserve the stories of the past. He is indeed a courageous young man as he is pushing forward the convergence of writers that will take on the duty of writing folklore for creating an environment where local stories become a part of our reading experiences in modern times. I was challenged when I read his message; “I have one request from you. Can you write a short reflective essay on preserving culture as our pride and its significance and whatever you maybe advocating - highlighting people and heritage?”

Honestly, I am not an expert. I am also still learning and still learning until today. But since I have finished a novel of one of the folklores of Sulus in Sabah, I accepted the challenge. I hope that I have shared my thoughts on how significant folklore is as the compass of our history, culture and our lives as people belonging to one group and identity, which also serves as a window of our past values and civilizations.​The ingredients of culture as the most crucial to the existence of people are possibly lineage, history, geography, beliefs, language, sense of belongingness, customs, and folklore. To me, folklore is one of the most neglected forms of art in these modern times. This is certainly true of the Sulus. Folklore involves those things we love to hear, sing, say, and do with our God-given senses and talents when we are at home with our family. With this, we find commonality, which truly gives us the joy of being at home.

Living in diaspora, we often take delight in our shared experiences whenever we meet other Sulus. In these moments fellow Sulus who are overseas talk about our identity, culture and traditions as well as history. We also talk about our culture of tales from our ancient ancestors that contribute greatly to the consciousness of our generations. Thus making them proud to cling to their past and learn their origin and ancient civilizations as the courageous group of people having their own statehood and country.​I am inviting young people to weave stories and be active in preserving our folklore and our heritage, as well as those unique traditions, which we have established in our native lands. We truly have a rich heritage, and it is our responsibility as the young generation to keep our folklore alive for future generations. May we gladly take on this responsibility. A tall order indeed, but it is reachable. Let us bring glory to God by embracing this rich heritage with which He has graciously endued us.

I was one of the guests who came for the recent media environmental write-shop in Sabah. We were billeted at one of the best lodges near Kampung Bilit along Kinabatangan River, known as the largest and longest river in the State of Sabah, Malaysia. Numerous local lodges and resorts operate around the area, making Kampung Bilit a favorite destination among foreign and local guests.

During the write-shop, different topics related to writing about the environment were discussed. We were taught how to write briefly but with points and facts. We were reminded never to base our write-ups on hearsay. "Reporting should be fair and based," the guide said.

We were also taught that when writing a report on environmental pollution, we should be careful, and that our reports should always be legal and e​thical.

Kinabatangan River: The participants were excited looking at the river bubbles while cruising

​One of the highlightsof the entire event was our cruising the Kinabatangan River, Malaysia's second longest river. I enjoyed the lush, colorful flora growing in the banks. Above us, birds were flying carelessly, as if happy that we were around. Even the monkeys shared the same joy, swinging endlessly from one tree to another.

​Before stepping into the boat, I listened to our guide doing the safety briefing, an SOP for every business operator in this area. As with the other guests, I wore an orange life jacket.

Apart from the hornbills flying above us and the rather noisy Proboscis Monkeys playing in the distance, I saw plenty of white bubbles exploding at the surface of the river. They looked like a strange match to the colorful hyacinths that also appeared on the surface of the river. They smelled a little stinky. Like dead fish. I wondered what's causing them.

​After I pointed out the presence of bubbles, Ms. Daria Mathew, a Freshwater Senior Manager of WWF - Malaysia who was on the other boat, confirmed that they, along with the presence of the hyacinths, were indicators of pollution and contamination.

Ms. Mathew also said that the pollutants and contaminants may have come from the oil palm companies nearby. That is why WWF was doing an awareness program related to environment and river conservation, Ms. Mathew further said. And one of their strategies is getting the community involved in helping monitor and document what is going on in the area. They partnered with different tour agencies as well, so guests taking river cruises would be more comfortable.

A signboard that says "No poaching and killing of animals"

​As we continued the cruise and listened to our guide, I got hit by a realization. As it is everyone’s responsibility to protect the environment and the river, I should also be responsible. It is also my responsibility to protect and teach youngsters how to keep the environment clean, especially the rivers, the main water-source of people in this area.

I left Kampung Bilit carrying a huge lump on my throat. As someone who is engaged in writing, I have the ability to inform many about what's going on.

​I bade goodbye to the teen croc lying in the river bank that enjoyed looking at us as our boat passed by, leaving a trace of river bubbles around it. And while waiting for the van to pick us up near the wooden waiting shed and while thanking the staffs of the WWF-Malaysia for conducting the write-shop, I managed to write a short poem:

A signboard warning guests not to get near the area due to the presence of crocodiles

HERE COMES THE RIVER

I know,I could never step on this river twiceTwice as it is today,But I will never leave it as prey,a prey to the savage and greedy.

And I know,One day, I will come again.When that time comes,I want to smell good thingsI want to see the beautiful scenesI want to listen to a story of care.

Then I know,Here comes the riverHere I am to cruiseSoon with the polluted bubblesNo more.

Birds flying over the Kinabatangan River

Note:In a recent report, an oil palm company was fined RM50, 000 by the Session Court for discharge of effluent exceeding standardized quality limit. The company was charged under Section 16 (1) of the Environmental Quality Act 1974. They are punishable under Section 16 (2) of the same Act for discharging Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and discharging effluent containing suspended solids from the final discharge point, which exceeded the quality standard limit.